Anyone remember that toy? It was awesome: he was a body builder action figure type of guy, but he was filled with gel and he could be stretched out to some amazing length like 6 feet. What in the world does this have to do with gastric bypass and weight loss? Well, for the past couple of months I have been feeling kinda like Stretch Armstrong's less stretchy older sister.
About a month after surgery I started having serious trouble eating things. Things I had been eating with no trouble, like refried beans and chicken salad. It was a odd feeling- it felt like everything I ate was stuck at the base of my throat. In that place where the clavicle comes together at the front of the neck. At first, it would pass in a few minutes, so I just thought I must have eaten too fast, or didn't chew well enough ( WLS patients are supposed to chew each bite 20-30 times, and that is really really hard!)
It went on like that for about 4 days. Pain after each meal that would go away after a time, but it was getting progressively worse. Then one day I was eating a sugar free pudding cup and it just got stuck and would not go down. Pudding is considered a "slider" food- something that we can eat a lot of, because it slides right down and doesn't fill up the pouch. But this time it wasn't sliding anywhere! I sat on the couch in tears, wondering what I was doing wrong. Why couldn't I get the hang of this?
I tried to get rid of the pudding (throw it up, sorry for the TMI), but couldn't do it. I called the bariatric clinic, and they were concerned. Concerned enough to schedule me to come into the hospital for a round of IV fluids and something called an EGD. That stands for a really long word which means they stick a camera down the esophagus and and take a peek around. What they were looking for was a stricture- which is when the opening from the stomach pouch and small intestine overheals and closes up.
Sure enough, I had one. And a whopper it was indeed. My opening was completely closed. The doc said only bubbles were passing through at that point. So while I was in the "twilight sleep" stage, they used a balloon to stretch the opening. The whole twilight sleep thing is interesting when they are sticking a scope down your throat- you gag and choke and remember the whole thing, but you don't fight it because you are somewhat under.
When I woke up, they gave me water to drink and it was fine. I thought, well that's that, I am good as new. Little did I know.
Before I left the hospital, the doc told me two fantastic bits of news: I would have to go back to the liquid diet (more on that in another post), and I would need 4 more dilations before I would be back to where I should be. Great, I told him. Really looking foward to that. Once a week for the next four weeks I get to have an IV stuck in the back of my hand and a tube shoved down my throat.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
My Loss is Goodwill's Gain
I haven't mentioned it yet, but in the three months since my surgery (it will be exactly 3 months on the 19th of this month), I have lost an amazing 67 pounds! I have NEVER been able to lose this amount of weight in my life. I have no regrets about having surgery- well, let me take that back. My only regret is that I did not do it years ago.
Anyway, today was a horribly hot and humid day in the Minneapolis area, so I spent my day indoors going through my closets and dressers. I was trying to not buy any new clothes for awhile yet, but last week a friend told me it was time to get rid of my old big, baggy shirts that I was still wearing to work. I didn't think I looked that bad, but the truth is I really never look in the mirror before leaving for work. I just throw something on and leave the house. So I didn't realize how bad I was looking in the sloppy clothes that are several sizes too big for me now.
Me wearing a coat I bought just last winter. Way too big for me now.
I ended up with 4 large garbage bags full of clothes that are pretty much falling off of me now. I kept a couple of shirts and a pair of pants so I can get some good before and after pics once I get to my goal weight. I can't wait to get to that point!
About half of what I pulled out of my closet to give away. Sad thing is many of these pieces still have the tags on!
An expensive suit I used for interviewing. 4-5 sizes too big now.
It's hard not to mentally add up how much money is going into the Goodwill bags, but talk about motivation! Physically, I didn't really realize feel how much weight I had lost. These clothes sure are evidence that something is working!
Wow, It's Been a Long Time...
Hello friends,
It has been a few months since I have posted! I had my WLS surgery on April 19th. Had a few serious complications that I will write about later, but I just wanted to write and say that all is going really well now. I am able to eat without any pain or nausea, and have been able to increase my calorie count a little each day. I am current eating between 300 and 400 calories a day- not quite where I should be yet, but considering where I came from, I'll take it!
I promise to update this little blog more often from now on. I was not really feeling up to it the last couple of months, but now that I am feeling much better, I am anxious to share this journey with you!
It has been a few months since I have posted! I had my WLS surgery on April 19th. Had a few serious complications that I will write about later, but I just wanted to write and say that all is going really well now. I am able to eat without any pain or nausea, and have been able to increase my calorie count a little each day. I am current eating between 300 and 400 calories a day- not quite where I should be yet, but considering where I came from, I'll take it!
I promise to update this little blog more often from now on. I was not really feeling up to it the last couple of months, but now that I am feeling much better, I am anxious to share this journey with you!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Beginning of the End
Welcome to my blog about my weight-loss journey. First, I would like to thank my fabulously talented daughter for designing my site layout, and making my banner. Her Photoshop skills far exceed mine!
I know that I am not breaking any new ground by keeping a blog about weight loss. People have blogged, vlogged, tweeted, Facebook-posted, and shared their personal experiences on the internet for years in every possible forum. You can read about diets (from fad to sensible) and exercise ad nauseum. And you can also find plenty of personal experience accounts about weight-loss surgery, which is what I am going to be talking about. I hope to add something new to the mix by keeping this personal, yet humorous and light.
I was born a heavy person. In every picture taken of me as a kid, I am a little chubbo. I was always the one picked last for games because I was too slow. I was the girl hiding in the back during gym class, hoping that the teacher would not spy me behind the equipment. Seriously, what kind of person thinks that the average middle school kid can pull off a routine on the uneven parallel bars without years of training, let alone an uncoordinated girl with 75 pounds extra on her? "Oh yeah, let me pull myself right on up there and do a couple of Pak saltos or castaway-to-a-hip circle moves" (thanks Google).
My weight just slowly increased as I grew older until I found myself this year, age 50, and over 300 pounds. I am not afraid to share the number with you. I am quite obviously morbidly obese, and have never tried to pretend that I am not. What is different now is the looming health issues that were made patently clear by my last round of blood tests. "Pre-diabetic, high cholesterol, high blood pressure" are not the words anyone is hoping to hear from their doc. I had been churning around the idea of gastric bypass in my head for the last year or so, and that was just the motivation I needed. I really do not want to have to inject myself with insulin for the rest of my life. Changes need to be made for real.
So, here I am, on the verge of having a Roux-en-Y procedure. Quite literally, on the verge. I have done all the hoop-jumping for the insurance company- psych tests, physicals, EKG, stress echo, fitness tests. I have given what seems like gallons of my blood to the lab, to be analyzed centrifuged, and whatever else they do with vials of blood behind those closed doors. I have had a sleep study, been fitted with a CPAP (that story alone is worth a post or two), and have been educated on what will be my new eating habits for the rest of my life.
I started the pre-op liquid diet 4 days ago, and I am starving, crabby, and it feels like some little sadist is inside my head pounding on the inside of my skull like it is a taiko drum. But I will get through this too. Whenever I feel like giving up and eating a filet-o-fish, I just think of that poor 12-year old version of me in gym class suffering the humiliation of not being able to do a backflip on the trampoline.
So I titled this post "The Beginning of the End." I hope this will be end of many things- refilling prescriptions for hypertension meds, achy knees, sore back, swollen ankles, struggling to fasten the seatbelt in the car, angry (or worse, crestfallen) looks from airplane seatmates who realize they are stuck sitting next to me for the next 3 hours. I hope that a new, more confident me will emerge- one that can let the past go and look ahead to a different future. I just have to make it through 6 more days of this liquid diet, then life as I have always known it completely changes.
All I gotta do is pretend this cup of chicken broth is a Chipotle burrito.
I know that I am not breaking any new ground by keeping a blog about weight loss. People have blogged, vlogged, tweeted, Facebook-posted, and shared their personal experiences on the internet for years in every possible forum. You can read about diets (from fad to sensible) and exercise ad nauseum. And you can also find plenty of personal experience accounts about weight-loss surgery, which is what I am going to be talking about. I hope to add something new to the mix by keeping this personal, yet humorous and light.
I was born a heavy person. In every picture taken of me as a kid, I am a little chubbo. I was always the one picked last for games because I was too slow. I was the girl hiding in the back during gym class, hoping that the teacher would not spy me behind the equipment. Seriously, what kind of person thinks that the average middle school kid can pull off a routine on the uneven parallel bars without years of training, let alone an uncoordinated girl with 75 pounds extra on her? "Oh yeah, let me pull myself right on up there and do a couple of Pak saltos or castaway-to-a-hip circle moves" (thanks Google).
My weight just slowly increased as I grew older until I found myself this year, age 50, and over 300 pounds. I am not afraid to share the number with you. I am quite obviously morbidly obese, and have never tried to pretend that I am not. What is different now is the looming health issues that were made patently clear by my last round of blood tests. "Pre-diabetic, high cholesterol, high blood pressure" are not the words anyone is hoping to hear from their doc. I had been churning around the idea of gastric bypass in my head for the last year or so, and that was just the motivation I needed. I really do not want to have to inject myself with insulin for the rest of my life. Changes need to be made for real.
So, here I am, on the verge of having a Roux-en-Y procedure. Quite literally, on the verge. I have done all the hoop-jumping for the insurance company- psych tests, physicals, EKG, stress echo, fitness tests. I have given what seems like gallons of my blood to the lab, to be analyzed centrifuged, and whatever else they do with vials of blood behind those closed doors. I have had a sleep study, been fitted with a CPAP (that story alone is worth a post or two), and have been educated on what will be my new eating habits for the rest of my life.
I started the pre-op liquid diet 4 days ago, and I am starving, crabby, and it feels like some little sadist is inside my head pounding on the inside of my skull like it is a taiko drum. But I will get through this too. Whenever I feel like giving up and eating a filet-o-fish, I just think of that poor 12-year old version of me in gym class suffering the humiliation of not being able to do a backflip on the trampoline.
So I titled this post "The Beginning of the End." I hope this will be end of many things- refilling prescriptions for hypertension meds, achy knees, sore back, swollen ankles, struggling to fasten the seatbelt in the car, angry (or worse, crestfallen) looks from airplane seatmates who realize they are stuck sitting next to me for the next 3 hours. I hope that a new, more confident me will emerge- one that can let the past go and look ahead to a different future. I just have to make it through 6 more days of this liquid diet, then life as I have always known it completely changes.
All I gotta do is pretend this cup of chicken broth is a Chipotle burrito.
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